PCs overstated the cost of border crossers, Lysyk says
Asylum seekers cost Ontario about $80M, not $200M cited last year
Ontario’s fiscal watchdog says Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government vastly overstated the cost to the province of asylum seekers crossing the border into Canada from the U.S.
Advocates for refugees hailed the findings by the province’s auditor general, calling the misinformation by elected officials another example of how politicians demonize refugees.
“In Canada and around the world, refugees are regularly dehumanized by political leaders who present misleading or even false information about them,” said Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees. “This is often done deliberately in order to whip up xenophobia and racism.”
In a 28-page report to the legislature released Wednesday, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk said the $200-million estimate by the then-minister of children, community and social services, Lisa MacLeod, was more than double the actual tab.
“Based on our work, $80.7 million would have been a more reasonable estimate,” Lysyk wrote. “Most of the $200 million of costs were for providing services to not just irregular border crossers but to all refugee claimants, including those who entered Canada at an official point of entry.”
Ford, who replaced MacLeod with Minister of Children,
Community and Social Services Todd Smith in a cabinet shuffle 13 months ago, insisted his government did not mislead Ontarians on the cost of what he called “illegal immigration.”
“Absolutely not. We rely on the Ontario public service to give us the numbers, they’re the numbers they gave us,” the premier told reporters.
“I’m glad the auditor general pointed out there’s $80 million of taxpayers’ money for illegal immigration, while there’s endless families that came over here, legally, working their backs off, wanting their mother, brother, sister to come over,” he said. “They’ve been standing in line for years and other people jump the line.”
Dench said refugee claimants in Canada, like others, pay taxes, but are not eligible for many of the government services those taxes pay for. Any full accounting of the costs of refugees, she said, needs to factor in what they contribute.
“The pandemic has highlighted for us that, far from being a burden to our society, many refugee claimants are essential workers on the COVID-19 front lines to keep us fed, cared for and safe,” said Dench. “We have found that we need them and their contributions.”
Kevin Lemkay, press secretary for federal Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, said Ottawa has provided over $370 million in financial support to provinces and municipalities to date to alleviate asylum-related housing pressures, including $107.5 million to Ontario.
In 2018, the provincial Tories were in a heated war of words with the federal Liberal government over the costs associated with helping irregular border crossers.
“Since day one we have challenged the federal government to pay us $200 million in compensation,” MacLeod said at the time. “We have indicated to the federal government that 40 per cent of Toronto’s shelter capacity is being used by refugees and it has put a strain financially but also in their shelter capacity … They actually suggested that we were lying about the shelter costs in Toronto.”
Maureen Silcoff of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers said MacLeod’s comments, deliberate or not, fuelled anti-refugee sentiments. “The Ontario government painted a grossly inaccurate financial picture about the cost of services for people seeking Canada’s refugee protection between ports of entry, and then used those incorrect figures to promote a false story that there’s a crisis at the border,” Silcoff told the Star.
“People who need Canada’s protection, for example, those fleeing domestic violence or harm based on their sexual orientation, deserve much better.”
Lysyk said “the accuracy of information provided by the ministry to the minister for the public announcement was far off the mark.”
Of the $80.7 million incurred, Ottawa has only provided $15.6 million to the cities of Toronto and Ottawa and Peel region.
“In comparison, Quebec incurred $300 million in costs and has been compensated $286 million by the federal government through a separate cost-sharing agreement,” the auditor noted.